Design blog of an ATX graphic designer

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A nonprofit client of mine recently got to go up to D.C. to lobby for their cause, and my project manager and I assisted them with creating some materials for the lunch event. Below are some pictures they sent over!

The client wanted to showcase stories from the people they’re representing, so we worked together to create 15 table tents with stories and different statistics on the back of each. In addition we created a large, clean infographic showing where in the country some of these stories come from, and where they live.

Another year, another MondoCon! Fourth year volunteering. Met some great people this year, and since my walls are full, managed to only buy two posters. Definitely got some other swag though, including this great shirt and print by John Vogl of The Bungaloo. Check out the detail on the eyes; just a touch of white. I think I own every iteration of that viking pin on the left, too (old print on a shirt, new print on a shirt, pin… it’s so good, can’t get enough). Speaking of pins, I bought a lot this year… They’re back in vogue, and out in full force.

Small story behind one of the posters I bought… Kevin Tong recently came out with an amazing Pixies print. I told myself I wouldn’t buy it unless an Art Print came out (no text), more to prevent me from buying another poster I don’t need than anything else. So guess what he did; fans in his Facebook group rallied, and one guy (who apparently does this fairly often) politely requested an AP. And he did it, and released it at MondoCon!

Detail shot of the beautiful poster below. The glass shards from the car are clear varnish, so they glint in the light.

So I finished the book my previous blog post: Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon. It’s a quick read, but there are a lot of ideas to unpack in this little book.

There’s a concept in this book that I actually initially struggled with when putting my work and thoughts online: to always question your online offerings with a “So What?” I’ve never found my thoughts, ideas so far as groundbreaking or out of the ordinary ENOUGH to warrant housing them somewhere on the internet (other than my portfolio website of course, which is full of work I’m proud of), so why push them out for the world to see? I eventually realized that this was limiting my creativity and thought processes; if you don’t get your work out there, even unfinished, there’s no way to discuss it and get better. And a blog easily allows you to reflect and see where you came from.

This concept, something that should have stuck with me from school and made so much sense in the classroom did not translate to online presence for me, and I’m guessing it’s because there’s so much finished work and talented, experienced people on the internet that most (or at least I) can’t help but feel small and unimportant sometimes. “Yelling into the void,” as it were. But hey, I have to look at this as “carving my space out” on the internet, another concept Austin discusses in this book.

I may add to this post as I consider the book further. It’s definitely worth a read!

Best time to get some actual reading done: on the plane. I’m sure I’m not the only one who is upset that WiFi is quickly becoming expected on flights. The one last bastion of a relatively distraction-free zone (aside from a upset baby) is slowly disappearing from the skies.

Anyway! I’ve had this book for a while, but as I was letting a creative friend go through my library of design books last night I grabbed this for the flight. My JavaScript book will only keep me so entertained, hah. I cracked it in the airport (having arrived 2 hours early for no apparent reason), and immediately came upon a Dan Harmon quote (of Community and Rick & Morty fame).

Excited to get to Atlanta! I’ll be visiting my sister who moved there a couple of years ago, and we’ll be checking out the eclipse (she’s 2 hours from the TOTALITY; sounds so ominous).

It was the company owner’s birthday this week at the office, so the other graphic designer and I decided to play a small prank; make it look like we filled his entire office with balloons! We got two sizes of balloons to fill in the holes as we went.

He ended up loving it for utilitarian reasons; it meant that he had privacy for a couple of days until the balloon started to drift off the window and deflate. Also, his kid came in and had a blast kicking them all over the office.

Recently I volunteered to create a shirt for a coworker’s mother, who herself volunteers to register people to vote at events around the state.

Below are some of the options I sent over for the client to check out. The shirt had to be non-partisan, and the client asked for a Texas bent. The flag version won out, and after a copy change, the shirt was ready for the client to take to her preferred printer!